The knee position at tourniquet inflation does not affect the gap balancing during total knee arthroplasty

The relationship between gap balancing and clinical outcome of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been researched. Tourniquet is widely used by most surgeons; however, there are little quantitative data about the gap depending on the tourniquet usage. We aimed to investigate whether the knee position at tourniquet inflation affected the gap measurement intra-operatively.

TKA was performed for 104 knees and the tourniquet was inflated with the knee at full flexion and extension. The gap was measured in each static knee flexion status (0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°, 120°, and in full flexion) using a tensor. We measured the gap twice; under the tourniquet inflation and release. The gap difference at each static knee flexion status was calculated by subtracting the gap under release from that under inflation.

When the tourniquet was inflated with the knee at full flexion, the mean gap differences were < 1 mm and < 1° in each static knee flexion status. When the tourniquet was inflated with the knee at full extension, the mean gap differences were < 1 mm and < 1°, respectively. All values of the gap difference were minimum, and were not affected by the tourniquet, whether the knee position at the tourniquet inflation was flexed or extended.

We postulated that the knee position at tourniquet inflation would affect the gap, which was refuted by our results. This shows that we can measure the gap without considering the knee position at tourniquet inflation.